TROBO founders Jeremy Scheinberg and Chris Harden were in need of a way to satisfy their childrens’ endless stream of questions. They drew on their experience in the theme park and video game industries to create a modern toy that teaches in a way that is fun enough to keep children engaged and learning for hours.

TROBO is a high tech but huggable stuffed plush robot that reads stories aloud as children follow along in the iPhone or iPad app. TROBO connects wirelessly to your device and teaches science and math lessons like How Does a Car Work? What is Lightning?, or How Do I Count Money? TROBO also plays games like Hot Potato and Hide and Seek. Your child creates an avatar who becomes part of TROBO’s personalized stories and lessons, so they can see themselves on the screen as they listen to TROBO read, who calls them by name.

TROBO’s stories and lessons are evaluated by a panel of educators and parental focus groups for age-appropriateness, user experience improvement, and features.

It’s both a toy and a teaching tool that kids love interacting with as they discover the world around them and build curiosity about science, engineering, technology and math (STEM).

TROBO speaks both English and Spanish and is available in two models – Newton the boy robot is red, blue and yellow, and Curie the gal is pink, lavender and green. They’re machine washable and rechargeable by USB. The battery lasts about 5 hours of continuous play.

The company won 2nd place at Orlando Startup Weekend in 2013, an event where entrepreneurs pitch ideas and work in teams to create business models and evaluate market research. They successfully raised money on Kickstarter in October 2014.